2014 Hockenheim I
The 2014 Season Opener, held at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was the opening round of the 2014 DTM Season, held in early May.'THE 2014 DTM RACES AT A GLANCE', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 2014), http://www.ww.dtm.com/en/Races/DTM-Dates-2014/calendar.html, (Accessed 18/05/2015) the race itself saw the debut of the BMW M4 DTM, as well as Maxime Martin, (both BMW, (Audi) and Vitaly Petrov (Mercedes).'Maiden DTM victory for Marco Wittmann and the BMW M4 DTM', dtm.com. (ITR e.V., 04/05/2014), http://www.ww.dtm.com/en/News/Maiden-DTM-victory-for-Marco-Wittmann-and-the-BMW-M4-DTM.html, (Accessed 18/05/2015) Marco Wittmann took his maiden race victory in the DTM by winning the season opener, after Adrien Tambay had claimed his maiden pole position in qualifying.'Adrien Tambay to start from pole position for season opener', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 03/05/2014), http://www.ww.dtm.com/en/News/Adrien-Tambay-to-start-from-pole-position-for-season-opener.html, (Accessed 18/05/2015) and Tambay completed the podium, as Mercedes failed to score a point in the opening race of the season. Pascal Wehrlein was their best driver in eleventh. Background Mike Rockenfeller came to the opening round of 2014 as the defending Champion, and was among the favourites to take the title. BMW, meanwhile, had signed up two new drivers, and Maxime Martin in their expanded squad for the season. They were equipped with the new M4 DTM, which had been developed through 2013 for the Championship and was expected to give BMW an advantage over the rest of the field. There were also new faces at Audi and Mercedes, with joining Jamie Green at Team Rosberg, and Vitaly Petrov taking over the second entry. Hockenheim also saw the return of 2010 DTM Champion Paul di Resta, as he reinforced Team HWA's ranks after being pushed out of Force India in Formula One. Entries Below is the entry list for the : Qualifying Qualifying was split into three parts, with Q1 lasting for thirteen minutes, Q2 lasting for 11 minutes, and the final part, Q3, running for nine minutes. Another feature of qualifying was the elimination of the slowest cars from each session, with all 23 cars running in Q1. The slowest five were then to be dropped, with the top eighteen entering Q2. The final part of Qualifying determined the top eight grid positions, after the ten slowest drivers from Q2 were eliminiated. Q1 Marco Wittmann set the pace in Q1, after Edoardo Mortara set the first competitive time of the 2014 Season. Adrien Tambay made a late charge to set the fifth fastest time of the session, having been last to that point to avoid the drop, with Mercedes appearing to be in serious trouble. This was shown when Paul di Resta, Daniel Juncadella, Robert Wickens, Christian Vietoris and debutant Vitaly Petrov were dumped out of qualifying at the end of the session. Q2 Mortara was the man setting the pace in a tight Q2 session, as most drivers found around half a second on their Q1 times. Jamie Green was a surprise struggler in Q2, almost crashing out of the session at the Sachskurve, before being eliminated as the slowest of man in Q2. Also out went the remaining two Mercedes of Gary Paffett and Pascal Wehrlein (fourteenth and fifteenth respectively), Team Phoenix's pair of Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider, as well as fellow Audi runner . Augusto Farfus, Joey Hand and Maxime Martin were the other drivers to be eliminated from qualifying, as eight progressed to the pole position shootout. Q3 Miguel Molina was the first to set a competitive time, although that was almost immediately surpassed by Wittmann and . Tambay, Bruno Spengler and were the next to sit at the top, although da Costa's time was then dropped for exceeding the track limits. In the final minute, Tambay improved on his time to secure pole, with Wittmann falling short by a tenth, himself holding a similar gap to Spengler. Ekstrom led the Audi challenge in Q3 with fifth, Molina taking sixth and Mortara seventh, as the BMW of Martin Tomczyk rounded out the top eight. After the session, Molina was excluded from the qualifying result for a technical infringement, meaning all of the drivers from seventh onwards were pushed up a position.'Miguel Molina excluded after qualifying', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 03/05/2014), http://www.ww.dtm.com/en/News/Miguel-Molina-excluded-after-qualifying.html, (Accessed 18/05/2015) Molina's car was not fitted with a dummy camera, a technical requirement highlighted in the DMSB rule book. Post-Qualifying The results of qualifying for race two are shown below. ** Molina excluded from the final result after Q3. Race There were no further changes to the grid after Molina's penalty, with a dry Sunday afternoon beckoning for the grid. The race was scheduled to start at 13:00, and the drivers were sent for their formation lap as the start time approached. Report Adrien Tambay made a clean start from pole to lead into the first corner, as Bruno Spengler jumped Marco Wittmann off the line. Jamie Green ran wide around the first corner to avoid the pack, but would suffer later on, hitting the back of Farfus into the hairpin, damaging the front of his RS5. Timo Scheider and Edoardo Mortara had a physical battle over sixth, which included Timo Glock and Martin Tomczyk into the hairpin. Back at the front, Wittmann was quick to repass Spengler before the end of the first lap, as Tambay pulled a small gap. Green was pulled into the pits with a mechanical warning flag, ultimately retiring due to the damage caused in the collision, as Wittmann made a dive into the hairpin to take the lead. The young German managed to get his M4 stopped in time, snatching Tambay's first place before pulling a clear lead in a matter of moments. In the mid-pack, the man on the move was Robert Wickens, who was heading a group of Mercs from the back of the grid. Having started twentieth, Wickens was attacking Joey Hand for fourteenth on lap four, and was tenth before the end of the eighth lap. Timo Glock, Timo Scheider and were glued together in the battle for third, as the rookie pulled a stunning move into the hairpin to take the position from Glock. It took Scheider several more laps to squeeze past, as Spengler began to fall away from the leaders. Wickens pulled onto the back of his country man on lap nine, taking eighth away soon after, before adding to his list of overtakes. The race calmed in the second quarter, as pitstops loomed ever closer. The first into the pits was Glock, who swapped his soft tyres (which may only be used for 50% of the race at the most) for a set of hard tyres on lap nineteen. The rest of the field swept into the pits over the next few laps, which was bad news for Daniel Juncadella. The Spaniard was on his way out of the pits when Maxime Martin was released from his pitbox in his path, with Juncadella having to come to a full stop to avoid the Belgian. Martin, for his part, was slapped with a drive-thru penalty for an unsafe release, compounded by the fact that the front left wheel of his M4 came off as he blocked Juncadella. Juncadella lost around ten seconds in the incident, while Martin continued after a new set of tyres were bolted on. Wittmann and Tambay remained in the lead of the race after the stops, with Glock's early stop getting him back ahead of da Costa and Scheider. Unfortunately for him, da Costa and Scheider were soon past, while Wickens, also on the hard tyres, began to tumble down the order. The Canadian lost four places in the space of two laps, falling out of the points positions and never looking like getting back. Christian Vietoris, whom had shadowed Wickens throughout, also began to suffer, having got ahead of his team mate during the stops. Edorardo Mortara's race was ruined by a puncture with eleven laps to go, causing him to lose alot of time with damage. At the front, Scheider had caught and passed da Costa, but had not managed to pull a gap. When the former champion ran wide at the hairpin, da Costa tried to force the issue, causing them to collide and Scheider into a spin. Scheider continued after losing time, while da Costa earned himself a puncture and a penalty for causing the collision. On the move in the closing stages, was Ekstrom, who had slipped on his set of soft tyres at the stops and begun to pick up places. Scheider's spin through da Costa meant the Swede was fourth into the final few laps, taking Glock with five to go. Pulling away from the former F1 driver at a rate of knots, Ekstrom was on the back of Tambay after a single lap, before using DRS to take second. Yet, Wittmann was one step ahead, with his early pace enough to earn him his maiden DTM victory, ahead of Ekstrom and Tambay. Glock had fallen to fifth in the closing stages after Mike Rockenfeller dived past, while Scheider was spun round again, this time by Farfus, dumping the German down to ninth. Hand picked up the final point for tenth, as Pascal Wehrlein missed out on tenth as the best placed Mercedes driver. Results The final result of the race is shown below, with the pole sitter shown in bold, and fastest lap in italics: * Indicates a driver started on soft or "option" tyres. Indicates a driver started on hard or "prime" tyres. Milestones *First race for the BMW M4 DTM. *Debut for , , Maxime Martin and Vitaly Petrov. *First pole position for Adrien Tambay. *Marco Wittmann's maiden DTM victory. Standings Marco Wittmann left Hockenheim at the head of the table, leading in the order that they finished the race. BMW Team RMG led the teams championship, as did BMW in the manufacturers championship, although Ekstrom was leading Abt Sportsline's challenge for their respective titles. Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, looked to be in dire straits even at this early stage of the season, having failed to score at a round for the first time since the Manufacturer's title began in 2012. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:Races Category:2014 Races Category:Hockenheim